The Descendants of Seth. (P.) On the Cainites and Sethites, see note at the close of the chapter. In Genesis 4:25-26 a commencement was made of the Sethite genealogy taken from J. In ch. 5 a fresh start is made, and the line of Seth is traced from Adam to Noah. The genealogy is taken from a differe... [ Continue Reading ]
_This is the book_, &c. The word rendered "book" (Heb. _sêpher_) is used of any written document. Our word "book" gives rather too much the meaning of a piece of literature. The word is often used in a much more general sense, e.g. Isaiah 50:1, "where is the bill (Heb. _sêpher_) of your mother's div... [ Continue Reading ]
_male and female_, &c. This clause is repeated from Genesis 1:27. _blessed them_ From Genesis 1:27. The words of the command, "be fruitful and multiply," &c., which accompanied the blessing, are not repeated; they are implied in the genealogy that follows. _called their name Adam_ Better than marg... [ Continue Reading ]
_in his own likeness, after his image_ Cf. Genesis 1:26. Man was made _in_God's image, _after_His likeness; he begets a son, _in_his own likeness, _after_his image. Many Heb. MSS., however, only read "in his image." On the words "image" and "likeness," see note on Genesis 1:26. The phrase here is ev... [ Continue Reading ]
_Enosh_ See note on Genesis 4:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Kenan_ The first syllable of this name is the same in Hebrew as the name "Cain," and it is presumably akin in meaning as well as in form (see note on Genesis 4:1).... [ Continue Reading ]
_Mahalalel_ As a Hebrew name this would mean "the praise of God"; but see note on the etymology of proper names in prehistoric times, Genesis 4:17. For Mahalalel the versions give a different form. LXX Μαλελεήλ; Vulg. "Malaleel.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jared_ Heb. _Yared_= "a going down." Cf. Jordan (Heb. _Yardên_) = "the going down, or descending, river" (?). The Book of jubilees, written in the latter part of the second century b.c., made use of this Hebrew etymology of the name, and connected it with the descending of angels upon the earth, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Enoch_ Heb. _Ḥanôkh_; cf. Genesis 4:17. Enoch and Mahalalel are here transposed.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Methuselah_ Possibly = "the man of Shelah"; and, if so, Shelah may indicate the name of a deity; cf. Methushael (Genesis 4:18) = "the man of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
_walked with God_ The phrase here, as in Genesis 5:24, used of Enoch, has passed into common use to express intimacy of communion with God. It denotes more than either standing in His presence, or walking before Him (Genesis 6:9; Genesis 17:1), or following after Him. It combines the ideas of fellow... [ Continue Reading ]
_and all the days_, &c. Concerning Enoch the following points deserve attention: (1) He is the seventh in the genealogy, cf. Judges 1:14; (2) by comparison with the lives of his fathers and descendants, the length of his life is immensely curtailed; (3) the number of his years agrees with the number... [ Continue Reading ]
_and he was not_ For this expression used to denote an unaccountable disappearance, cf. Genesis 42:13; Genesis 42:36; 1 Kings 20:40. In order to make it quite clear that the words did not imply death, LXX renders οὐχ εὑρίσκετο; Vulg. "non apparuit." The shortness of his life as compared with the ot... [ Continue Reading ]
_Methuselah_ According to the Hebrew text and the Samaritan version, Methuselah lived the longest of all the patriarchs, and, according to their figures, his death at the age of 969 years occurred in the year of the Flood.... [ Continue Reading ]
_saying, This same shall comfort us_, &c. It is generally supposed that this verse, containing a poetical couplet which is intended to explain the name of Noah, has been inserted from the same source of tradition (J) as Genesis 4:25-26. Certainly, (_a_) the saying interrupts the bare list of names a... [ Continue Reading ]
_and all the days of Lamech_ Lamech's life of 770 years was shorter than Methuselah's by 192 years. His death occurred five years before the Flood. In the Samaritan text the date of his death coincided with the year of the Flood.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Noah was_, &c. Noah is thus represented as much older, when he begets his children, than were the other patriarchs, when children were born to them. A hundred years is the interval of time between the birth of Noah's sons and the Deluge (Genesis 7:6). Compare the mention of three sons born to... [ Continue Reading ]